Our house tells the world – or at least that part of it which passes our door – where our sympathies lie

Rose and walked Mix and then went and started to work through some of the paperwork for the Presbytery. There was a knock on the door and Charlie from the local branch of the SNP arrived. We had a grand old chat and with everyone’s agreement we told Charlie that he was welcome to put up an SNP sign on our property because it is such a good site, being at a crossroads.

I went back to work but later in the afternoon Charlie returned with his signs. We got them erected and then settled down over a coffee which I greatly enjoyed.

I missed out on dinner because I wanted to get up to Duns in good time for the Hustings. The Hustings were held in the church where there was a very good turn-out for a debate which was held in remarkably good spirits. To be fair, it wasn’t really a debate, more a question time. I am getting a bit weary of these question times because there is never any time for a candidate to develop a full answer to a serious question. It is all sound-bites.

I also felt extremely sorry for Michael Moore who I gather has served this constituency well over the last sixteen or so years. He clearly cannot understand why he is now being rejected by those who have always voted for him in the past. We have been inundated with literature from Mr. Moore over recent weeks but I am afraid we won’t be voting for him.

I was disappointed in John Lamont, the conservative candidate. I came expecting to be impressed by him and he did speak well, but his grasp of the motivations of the poor and his attitude to low wages and food banks left me cold. I thought that Calum Kerr of the SNP did quite well – I didn’t think that he was able to answer the question about how the SNP would fund the half a per cent spending increase, largely because he wasn’t given the time to spell out the alternative to austerity: which takes me back to my weariness with these question time debates.

I came home and watched still more political debating on television while I enjoyed a late supper, finding time to watch the final of University Challenge before going to bed. I’m sorry that the series has come to an end, it was a good exercising of the brain on a Monday evening.